Integrated Media Platform

Deliver high fidelity experiences efficiently.

IIS Media Services, an integrated HTTP-based media delivery package for IIS, has four parts:

Smooth Streaming: adaptive streaming of on-demand media over HTTP
Live Smooth Streaming: live adaptive streaming for broadcast events
Bit Rate Throttling: meters the speed at which content is delivered to a player
Web Playlists: secure sequencing and server-side control of media content

Additional key elements of the IIS Media Services platform include:

Advanced Logging: rich, real-time client- and server-side logging
Application Request Routing (ARR): intelligent HTTP proxying and caching
Smooth Streaming Client: for creating customized Silverlight players

Three Screens, One Web Platform

With integrated media delivery in IIS, you no longer need separate Web and streaming infrastructures to deliver compelling Web and rich media content to three screens (computer, TV, mobile). Using a single platform saves the cost of managing separate server infrastructures, and reduces the time to market and cost for deploying new applications, Web sites, and rich media experiences.

Reaching your audience on three screens is also becoming increasingly critical and IIS Media Services 4 provides that reach. Try iPhone and computer streaming below…

Three Screens

Extend Engagement

Viewers have no patience for rebuffering or poor quality web video. No matter how compelling your content, if it stops and starts, or is grainy and pixilated, viewers simply won’t stick around. Smooth Streaming changes the game. This adaptive streaming technology can deliver true HD (720p+) live and on-demand streaming without the stutter, and will captivate your audiences – and a captivated audience means extended viewer engagement times.

Smooth Streaming leverages standard HTTP Web technologies, proven IIS server technology, and the advanced capabilities of Microsoft® Silverlight™ to deliver the best possible playback quality for each end user. The end result is simple: viewers across the board enjoy a compelling, uninterrupted streaming experience, which leads to extended audience engagement and increased revenue opportunities. This exciting streaming technology is available for both on-demand content (Smooth Streaming) and live broadcasts (Live Smooth Streaming).

To easily create a Silverlight player experience, you can use Expression Encoder. It will encode your content, create a template-based player for you, and then publish your content directly to IIS - all in one step. You can also build and test more customized players with the Smooth Streaming Client, which provides features such as live digital video recorder (DVR) functions, multiple camera angles, rough cut editing, analytics, and ad integration.

Measure and Monetize Media

Monitoring and measuring media experiences is critical for understanding how users engage with content and how to more profitably deploy media. The Advanced Logging extension provides access to both real-time client- and server-side logs for media experiences delivered over HTTP. Advanced Logging also allows third-party analytics providers to easily access data in real-time, as well as extend the set of metrics that are captured from either the client or the server.

If you deliver media as progressive downloads, Bit Rate Throttling saves network bandwidth costs by controlling the rate at which content is delivered over HTTP. The throttling rate can be configured using server-side rules or by automatically adjusting the download rate for detected media files based on format and encoded bitrate. When Bit Rate Throttling is not used, content is downloaded at the maximum possible speed. If an end user drops off after watching 20% of a video clip, the content owner would have paid bandwidth costs for media that was never watched.

The Web Playlists extension lets you deliver progressive download content with secure, server-controlled media playlists. They enable you to control whether clients can Seek or Skip for each media asset. Web Playlists obfuscate the location of media assets from the end user, and can prevent client-side caching of those assets. Web Playlists offer content owners easy control over how media assets, including advertisements, are sequenced and experienced by their customers.